Djimon Hounsou Talks Guardians Of The Galaxy And Diversity In The Marvel Universe

by Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell

Djimon Hounsou made waves at Comic-Con this year when he let the cat out of the bag that he would be playing Korath the Pursuer, a disciple of Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy. Kevin Feige and James Gunn sort of smiled and looked at each other when the actor made that statement, but you could tell that weren’t entirely pleased. Everyone had already figured the Mad Titan would play a part in the film, so Feige and Gunn can’t be too mad. The folks at Collider spoke with Hounsou as he was out promoting his new film Baggage Claim. The actor didn’t drop any big hints about Guardians this time, but he did talk about working in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

At the aforementioned Comic-Con, Hounsou talked about taking the role in part because his son was upset there wasn’t much diversity in superhero movies. Hounsou’s son wanted to dress up like a superhero, but he didn’t really have any African-American heroes to identify with. The actor on how these films need to be more diverse:

The lack of diversity, specifically in genre films and the superheroes our kids grow up watching and emulating, they can’t really identify with. When you see the same thing, over and over again, and it seems not to speak of you and your heritage and your culture, it leaves you out of this world, a little bit. It gives a certain social distance with your world. So, it was very shocking when my son said that. It shocked me, but at the same time, it was not a surprise. It’s one of those things that even I have been looking for. I’m looking for a hero of my kind, and I’m looking for a shero of my kind. Now, we have Zoe Saldana, who is a shero for minorities, and that’s kind of nice.

Joining a big budget film like Guardians of the Galaxy probably meant that there isn’t much room for improvisation or creative freedom when it comes to the characters and story. Hounsou says that isn’t really the case. He talks about being part of the Marvel Universe and commends director James Gunn:

We like to make the Marvel comics films because they’re fun. Families can go see them together. They’re entertaining. They aspire to inspire, and that is cool. At the same time, not all of us can identify and connect, necessarily. But, Marvel movies are so much fun. Those guys are creating fun stuff.

I don’t really think, because it’s that expensive, it’s necessarily less free, as far as the creative freedom. The creative freedom is still very much alive and existing, especially with genre films, because you can do that interpretation however you see fit. It comes from a world that we are completely creating, from the ground up, and conceptualizing, from the group up. So, it can go any kind of way. Guardians of the Galaxy is a completely different world. It has no place in this world. Even for us, coming to set and looking at it, you go, “Wow!” Every other day, you feel like you’re in a different part of the galaxy. You don’t feel like you’re on planet earth. We’re mostly on a soundstage, but some sets were built on the outside. We’re in a space world. It’s pretty cool. It’s really fun.

You can read the full interview with the actor where he talks about voicing Black Panther in the BET cartoon by clicking here. Hounsou is a fantastic actor and it will be exciting to see what he does with someone like Korath. Guardians seems to be truly epic in scope. The leaked snippet of the trailer proved that very well. Hopefully Hounsou gets a chance to stick around for a while. With all the make-up, CGI, and prosthetic that will undoubtedly go with Korath maybe he can even play another hero in the future. He already has the Black Panther voice down. What do you think?

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I'm a comic book and movie nerd who loves to share news I find interesting and hope you do as well. I'm a big Doctor Who fan and sci-fi in general. My favorite comic characters you ask? Well Thor, Wolverine, and Daredevil.

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